Our Animal ABC Book

The cover - the letters are cut from extra painted paper

Earlier in the year, while we were studying animals, we made an animal ABC big book.  This project took some serious time but was well worth it.  My class loved to spend free time reading their ABC book.  Getting started - We brainstormed animals for each letter of the alphabet.  Sometimes there were debates over which animal would be best and why. We had to take a vote for some letters.  There were also letters that took some research - like x, for example.  Everyday we spent about 15 to 20 minutes doing interactive writing - "A is for alligator." until we had a sentence for every letter of the alphabet.  Next - we turned our attention to illustrating our book.  We went back to our brainstormed list and decided which colors we needed for our animals.  We made several pieces of  painted paper - using the chosen colors to paint white construction paper and then drag plastic forks through the wet paint to add texture.  After the paper dried, we traced animal tracers onto the back of the appropriate color of painted paper.  I decided to use teacher made tracers so that all the animals would be the perfect size for the book.  The students cut the animals out. Finally - they glued the pieces (some animals had more than one piece) and the interactive writing to the page along with the letter.  They added details to the animals with black crayons giving their page a finished look. We laminated and bound the book to add to our library.

Tissue Paper Butterflies

Using liquid starch, we glued multicolored 2" tissue paper squares onto wax paper, covering it entirely. Students used one finger to hold down a corner of the tissue square making it is easier to keep it in place and straight while they brushed the liquid starch over it. The tissue should be completely wet but not dripping. Try not to let puddles of starch form. It really lengthens the drying time. I have the children place each square so that it overlaps the previous ones. It is important not to leave any holes if you intend to remove the wax paper later. When it dried, we used white glue and glued a butterfly outline (precut by me for my kindergarteners) onto the tissue paper side of the collage. The following day, we trimmed the excess paper from around the butterfly. Finally, if desired, the wax paper can be carefully pulled off of the back of the butterfly giving it a stained glass look. With kinders, I do this part myself. This last step isn't essential. They look beautiful with the wax paper left on too. We hung them in the window for open house.

Mother's Day Projects

I found this project on Mrs. Picasso's Artroom and loved it. I wish I had had the time to do it justice. I had to change it a little to fit my needs - a mother's day gift with little time. First I squirted three colors of paint into a pie tin making a simple design. Don't mix the paint. Next the kids put one hand into the pie tin, covering the palm and fingers with paint. Then they tapped their hands together gently, transferring the paint to the other hand but not mixing it. They made handprints in the shape of a butterfly onto white cardstock. After making the two butterfly handprints, the kids rubbed their hands together mixing the paint. And made one more print for the flower. Using the side of their fist dipped in red paint, a ladybug print was made. Hands were washed and while we waited for the paint to dry, we worked on the background. We tore green paper for the grass and glued it to a piece of 12" × 18" blue construction paper. Then created stems by gluing strips of green paper onto a different green colored stem. We glued that just under the edge of the grass. Then the kids traced leaves on green and cut them out. These were glued to the stems. To save time I took the butterflies, flowers, and bugs home and cut around them. The following day, my kinders glued them down to complete their collage. Finally, we used black sharpies to add details like the butterfly's body, spots on the ladybug, and lines on the leaves. I typed and copied the mother's Day poem on magenta paper, cut around it, and glued them on to the project. The students signed their name and took their gift home to mom. I really liked the mosaic frames on Mrs. Picasso's project I just didn't have time to add this part. Well, there's always next time.

Caterpillar Collages

Caterpillar Collage

We made caterpillar collages in the style of Eric Carle this week. We used tissue paper squares (greens and yellows). We glued the squares to white construction paper using liquid starch. While that dried we painted tan construction paper with brown tempera using textured rollers. The next day we traced 5 small circles onto the back of our painted paper and cut them out. We also traced a leaf onto the back of the tissue paper and cut it out. We glued the circles in an overlapping line onto our tissue paper leaf. Finally, we added details with black sharpies.


Jose cutting caterpillar pieces



Naythan and Adriana

painting with roller



Alex adding details



Flower Collages

To go with our plant unit we read The Tiny Seed and then created flower collages. This project took three to four 20 minute lessons. First we used watercolors on watercolor paper to make two sheets of painted paper, one with greens and one with purples, or pretty petal colors. Before the paint dried we sprinkled salt on our papers to create texture. The next day we did some splatter painting on white construction paper. Because I have kindergarteners, I took the painted paper home and drew eight to ten petals on the colorful sheet and two leaves and a stem on the green sheet. Finally the kinders cut out the pieces and assembled their flower onto their splattered paper. They added a teacher made watercolor center to their flower and soil along the bottom of the project.